Record-Breaking Thread

Wednesday - Anyone had a look at the Member Points page lately? There are all sorts of categories listed ... BUT NO POINTS! Sorta goes along with the fact that my home page shows no points either. "Curiouser and curiouser," quoth Alice.

On top of that was an excellent Person of Interest episode yesterday which posed the question: "How would a machine know the difference between good and evil when the world is a gray-scale of both?"

Discovered the points are still registering deep in your profile but the point count that we used to see is gone and as Loren noted the point values that used to be listed are no longer there. What that means is the system still tracks your points in the background at the old assigned values and still adds lightning bolts when thresholds are reached.

That doesn't mean they're coming back, just that they're out of our site even though they're still there. :-)

I still can't figure out why all the angst over points that ultimately don't mean anything. *shrug*

Don't think it's angst as much as credit for time served. You don't get anything for it except an acknowledgment that you've been here long enough to acquire 3, 4 or 5 bolts of participation credit.

As a racer I hold dear those who witnessed my journey from newby to relatively competent amateur racer over the past 17 years because nobody else on the planet knows I did it.

RBT is a virtual clubhouse of the same magnitude. We've all been trading automotive verbal paint for years and even though most of us have never met we value and take comfort in the regular cross pollination.

There was a time when I regularly went to ad agencies and casting houses all over Manhattan and auditioned with all kinds of actors from stage, screen and voice legend. It was just cool being in the same room with them because almost no one got the job because of who they were... (OK... a few did.... :-) But all had to commit to the work and do their best to win the job. There's an aspect of that here as the discourse, when handled civilly, kicks around the merits of a car or manufacturer from different points of view and vents feelings from all sides.

We like the status of having lightning bolts of attendance but we probably value more the knowledge we've gained of each other and the ebb and flow of our arguments.

Thursday - My wife just told me we have COVID-19 cases in the town next door, among the high school kids, and a couple small burgs north of us. Seems as though the unavoidable fact is that either of both of us will likely get it at some point, though her health and mine are sufficiently good enough that I think we can tough it out.

Got what could be a really nice audio demo event, sponsored by Paradigm and Anthem tonight, down in Cuyahoga Falls. Looking forward to that a lot.

I was talking in passing with the company president this morning. As you know, we are a tier-1 automotive parts manufacturer. He said he fully expects us to be shut down before the end of next week. If (when) COVID-19 is detected in one of the automotive plants, it will be shut down immediately, which will put us out of work as well. Also, should any other supplier (or us, for that matter) have the someone detected and shutdown, it will in effect shutdown everyone as well.

And with the stock market debacle, my retirement plans are on hold until further notice.

I'm planning, maybe hoping, to make some serious coin on these stocks with them tanking so bad. Ford is down almost 50% from December. When are people going to start getting complacent about the virus though, a week, two weeks, a month, that's the question:

I'm planning, maybe hoping, to make some serious coin on these stocks with them tanking so bad. Ford is down almost 50% from December. When are people going to start getting complacent about the virus though, a week, two weeks, a month, that's the question:

Stability will return when people see the virus numbers leveling off below the number that will overwhelm hospitals and clinics. (If it overwhelms the healthcare system all bets are off.) That's the nightmare scenario currently happening in Italy because people ignored warnings and restrictions.

Because US testing kits and test facilities will be playing catchup for a while health officials don't know if or where the virus is blooming. Once they get a handle on that nationwide it will be easier to see where the bottom is from which to move forward. It's like when 9/11 happened in that it's a place we've never been to before so everyone is concerned/aftraid while trying to figure out their exit strategy.

From a financial standpoint the impact is so global it should be relatively easy to see when the bottom is reached but I'm no financial guy so take that thought for what it's worth. :-)

Stability will return when people see the virus numbers leveling off below the number that will overwhelm hospitals and clinics. (If it overwhelms the healthcare system all bets are off.) That's the nightmare scenario currently happening in Italy because people ignored warnings and restrictions.

You should more closely watch what is happening near you.

One of my coworkers (not in my group, but was in my office area last week in meetings, etc.) is "presumptive positive for COVID-19" and is being tested.

I would suspect that it has already broken out here in the Berkshires, which also means that it has broken out near you.

Just found out yesterday that my company's big expo in Las Vegas was bing postponed. It's a huge event. And, even though I'm not into all the Vegas stuff, I was looking forward to it. I don't mind that they are being safe, however.

As for the markets, I'm no expert either. But, like Al, my retirement plans are changing by the day. I've stopped looking at the 401K. Things are depressing enough. I hope all of us here in the RBT (and their families) can remain virus free. May the odds be ever in your favor...

Just found out yesterday that my company's big expo in Las Vegas was bing postponed. It's a huge event. And, even though I'm not into all the Vegas stuff, I was looking forward to it. I don't mind that they are being safe, however.

As for the markets, I'm no expert either. But, like Al, my retirement plans are changing by the day. I've stopped looking at the 401K. Things are depressing enough. I hope all of us here in the RBT (and their families) can remain virus free. May the odds be ever in your favor...

In my industry there were two shows recently, one in Vegas and one in Atlanta. Both were poorly attended. For the show in Atlanta even some exhibitors didn't even turn up. Probably good that your show was postponed.

One of my coworkers (not in my group, but was in my office area last week in meetings, etc.) is "presumptive positive for COVID-19" and is being tested.

I would suspect that it has already broken out here in the Berkshires, which also means that it has broken out near you.

Dr. Fauci says it will absolutely get worse before it gets better meaning the number of people who have it, are spreading it and will die from it will keep going up.

I would be more shocked to find out we don't have cases of the virus locally around us than we do. The only way we'll learn the true scope of it's progression is with testing. When testing reaches the numbers needed to get the big picture we'll know whether we've contained it at a manageable level or not. Still more questions than answers.

The season opening F1 GP in Australia was cancelled just two hours before activities were to begin with Free Practice 1 after a member of the McLaren team tested positive. That's 10 teams traveling half way around the world only to have the event cancelled. I'm sure F1 regrets chancing this eventuality. It's probably best to skip the upcoming races in Bahrain and Vietnam, with the China race already cancelled. Abundance of caution should be the strategy.

Edit: Bahrain and Vietnam F1 races have been cancelled. I guess the GP Netherlands, at the 1st of May will be the first race this season.

Friday - Well, the NBA and Major League Baseball have suspended their seasons. I would expect the XFL to follow suit at some point. Can IndyCar be far behind? I wouldn't bet against it.

Meantime the Paradigm / Anthem audio event yesterday was okay. Food and drink were pretty good (a bourbon tasting yielded some pleasant surprises!), but not ONE of their rigs was set up to take a CD! GRRRRR!

The Masters has been cancelled as well. And, NASCAR has postponed the next two races after originally saying they would do them without fan presence. It might stink, but I do believe that we should err on the side of caution.

For example, I was supposed to go to Seattle at the beginning of March for a work project a colleague needed help with. It was postponed due to an issue other than COVID-19. Fast forward to today, and we are notified that it was rescheduled for the beginning of April and they are looking for volunteers to go help. That is a hard no from me. It is definitely not worth the risk to me or anyone else as far as I'm concerned.

At my Walmart things aren’t completely empty other than napkins, Clorox wipes, TP, paper towels and ground beef. Most other stuff is still available. What I find especially perplexing is that there is still all manner for fresh fruit available. If you are worried about getting sick then maybe stocking up on citrus fruits would make more sense than buying all the frozen vegetables, but what can I say panic is as panic does.

A couple of Covid-19 cases have popped up about 15 miles from us (in Bethlehem CT) but still seeing only an occasional mask or latex gloves being worn in stores. BJ's and Stop & Shop have some depleted shelves but not emptied out as shown above. Because we buy toilet paper and paper towels in bulk at BJ's I always have several months supply in the basement so there's no danger we're going to run out.

One thing mentioned at todays press conference was the need to keep store supply lines up and running so shelves could be quickly restocked. When people see cleaning supplies and food aren't going to run out the panic buying will stop.

Once testing is made common place and hot spots become known and isolated a sense of normalcy will return. It will be a new normal but we'll get used to it. Remember how easy it was to get on a plane before 9/11 and how quickly we got used to armed National Guard in airports and taking our shoes and belts off and our computers out for the TSA?

Ironically there is a Chinese curse that says, "May you live in interesting times." "Interesting" being defined as times of war, flood, earthquake, fire and disease. It would seem we are living in interesting times. So it goes.

Pat, I've known about that "Chinese curse" for a while. The catch is that "interesting" is a scalar, rather than a vector quantity. "Interesting" can go in any direction, from ecstatic to catastrophic and everything in between.

What was it that Bette Davis said? Oh, yeah: "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night."

Pat, I've known about that "Chinese curse" for a while. The catch is that "interesting" is a scalar, rather than a vector quantity. "Interesting" can go in any direction, from ecstatic to catastrophic and everything in between.

What was it that Bette Davis said? Oh, yeah: "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night."

My client has informed all contractors and staff that we may be required to work from home (or in my case, my second home). One of the tax analyst was sent home (2 weeks) because her husband works at a company where they had parent that sent his kid to a daycare facility where there was one other kid that was diagnosed with the virus.

I truly understand the need for caution but I suspect that there is a fair amount of over-reacting by the public and fear mongering by prime time media.

The H1N1 infected more people (in the millions) than this coronavirus and I don't think there was this much public hysteria about it.

I truly understand the need for caution but I suspect that there is a fair amount of over-reacting by the public and fear mongering by prime time media.

The H1N1 infected more people (in the millions) than this coronavirus and I don't think there was this much public hysteria about it.

The fear and concern is appropriate because if people treat it lightly and it spreads massively in areas that don’t yet have testing the hospital system will be overwhelmed with cases and those in need for respirators will be out of luck. Fauci talks about lowering the curve of infection with isolation and sanitation to keep it at a level our health system can handle. If we’re able to do that (As China and Japan have) we’ll be able to bridge the gap until a vaccine is created. If we don’t and it spreads like it has in Italy the horror of having loved ones turned away from health facilities because they are full could be our next reality.China was able to shut things down in a way that we cannot but that does point out the spread is stoppable if there is a collective will to do so

Saturday - Other than some shopping while my wife's car gets it oil changed, not a lot doing today. Very likely I'll finish the last three episodes of Person of Interest, and I must confess, I'm going to miss that series when it's over. It's been a real treat.